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Access Commerce Changes E-Commerce Software Colors

by Stephanie Neil, MA Editorial Staff

Posted on Friday, November 17, 2006 3:38:00 PM       Sign Up to receive Daily News Alerts in your E-mail Inbox                               

Access Commerce this week refreshed its B2B e-commerce software suite with a new version built on Web 2.0 technology that is said to give manufacturers a way to customize Web sites with eye-appealing graphics in easy-to-navigate settings.

The company's Cameleon Commerce Suite blends electronic catalog; guided selling;, quote generation and proposals; distributed order management; and specialized functions for aftermarket spare parts with customer relationship management functionality. Capabilities such as these are typically offered as stand-alone applications. Access Commerce's Cameleon is designed to address all of these needs across multiple business channels -- indirect or direct Web-enabled sales -- as well as call center activities.

"In a nutshell, it provides a way for a company to optimize complex selling and ordering processes," said Kurt Haller, executive vice president of Access Commerce, in an interview.

The latest release, which has been in development for most of this year, has been rewritten around Web 2.0 technologies, and leverages Ajax (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML). Previous versions of the suite were built solely on Java, but Ajax is said to increase a Web page's interactivity, speed, and usability.

Access Commerce has created migration tools for the approximately 120 customers of the Java-based version of its Cameleon Commerce suite, which it said should make the move forward easy. And the use of Ajax, in fact, has enabled a new suite configuration that is said to lighten the programming load for companies needing to customize various aspects of the interface.

"One of great new things about the new version is that many of the things in the past that required programmed don't anymore," Haller said.

For example, through the use of Ajax, shopping carts and quote forms can be customized sans programming, since the functionality is now designed to support different user profiles, including consumer, B2B customer, and channel partner.

"When you are working in the B2C world -- like if are used to buying things on Amazon -- you think of it as a shopping cart. But in the B2B world, the shopping cart is analogous to a quote and when purchased, that quote turns into an order," noted Haller, describing the unique aspects of Cameleon's integrated shopping cart profiles.

Other key features of the latest release include a new electronic catalog with animation and special effects that can highlight information or promotional offers. A new workflow engine, based on the open source JBoss jBPM, includes visual process-modeling tools. The workflow engine can be extended throughout the entire commerce suite to enable tighter collaboration. Lastly, a new document tool generates quotes, proposals, sales letters, shipping forms, and even custom Web pages.

Word of a Web 2.0 version of its flagship software suite comes on the heels of Access Commerce's third-quarter financial report. The company's year-over-year growth was fairly flat; total revenues for the period were €1.84 million compared to €1.81 million in the third quarter last year. Cameleon represented over two-thirds of the company's third-quarter revenues, at €1.26 million; integration services accounted for the balance.

Haller said the flat third quarter was the result of seasonal softness in the European market -- where most of Access Commerce sales are generated.

The company, headquartered in France, did not break out earnings numbers or provide an outlook for year-end activity. However, the company has been on an acquisition path, which may have affected bottom-line results by increasing expenses related to technology integration.

Third-quarter results included contributions from the recently acquired Exsyde, a product information management vendor, whose technology is now integrated into the suite as the Cameleon Product Information Manager. Access Commerce will report acquisition-related costs at the end of the year, officials said.

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